Turkey's position on Jerusalem unchanged

During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict, as Palestinians want Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters yesterday that his country's position towards Jerusalem had not changed, warning that if the US declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel the situation would be catastrophic, the Anadolu Agency reported.

US President Donald Trump is expected to give a speech on Wednesday in which he could recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

He warned that the move was a "great disaster for everyone" that would lead the way to "turmoil, chaos and clashes" and could produce "unpleasant things that we have not forseen".

On Dec. 5, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey can break off diplomatic relations with Israel in case the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

"American government officials have said themselves that we have to start a war in the region to protect the security of the Zionist regime", Khamenei said.

There have been suggestions he will stop short of moving the embassy for now but recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital - a move that would overturn years of precedent and run contrary to international consensus.

Erdogan said Turkey, which currently holds the chairmanship of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), would immediately call a summit meeting of the pan-Islamic group if Trump went ahead with the move.

Last year, Turkey and Israel ended a rift triggered by Israel's deadly storming in 2010 of a Gaza-bound ship that left 10 Turkish activists dead and led to a downgrading of diplomatic ties. US traditional policy has been that its status must be negotiated between the two parties.

The recognition will "throw the region and the world into a fire and it's not known when it will end", Bozdag, also government spokesman, wrote on Twitter.